Joan stared up into the fae’s eyes, all thoughts of their strange beauty now gone. Despite herself, she couldn’t even bring herself to move. She was staring into the eyes of a being of pure power, something that would have been a credible threat even if she was still the Hero. Now? They could wipe her out as easily as she might blink.

“Four left, Hero,” the Nameless One said. “That is what you are granted. No more. No less.”

“The key?” Joan asked softly.

“Will be given, yes,” the Nameless One said, their eyes narrowed on her. “Three.”

“Sending me to the other chosen?”

“Indeed. Sending you and your friends where you need to go, that’s two remaining.”

“Can you let me go? Not as a boon!” Joan said quickly. “Just really hard to breath with you holding my face like this.” The fae didn’t answer and she suspected she wouldn’t be permitted such a kindness. She wracked her brain, trying to find out what she should ask for next. “Can you bring all of the chosen to us in the castle?”

“No. The chosen are of the gods, I cannot tamper with them unless they come to me,” the Nameless One said.

Joan gulped and couldn’t help but feel that she was balancing on a ledge over a spiked pit. “Why do you hate me?”

The Nameless One paused and, for a moment, the anger seemed to fade. The hand finally released her and she fell to her knees. “Hate you? No. I hate what you are, hero.”

“What I am?” Joan asked.

“A loophole, nothing more, nothing less.”

“I thought fae liked loopholes,” Joan said before reaching up and rubbing her chin. Judging by the soreness she suspected even that would start to bruise.

“We like our own. But you are different. You’re the living embodiment of flipping the board because things didn’t go your way. It’s disgusting,” the Nameless One said with a shake of their head.

“So what? The game was broken to begin with!” Joan said before, very slowly, rising to her feet. “The lives on the line, the chosen, the people, all of them are--”

“Unimportant,” the Nameless One said, cutting her off. “Now so are you. You have two boons remaining, child. Use them wisely.”

“Why do I even have boons from you?” Joan asked. “If I had these before, why did you never show up? Why was it someone else? Why come here now?”

“Very well, if that’s what you wish to use a boon on then--”

“NO!” Joan said quickly, shaking her head rapidly. As desperately as she wanted to know, she was certain that she could find out the information some other way. One of the heroes of the past had to have done something for this creature. Maybe. “Okay. My head, you know what’s going on. Whatever is messing with my memories. Can you undo it? Fix it? Without killing me?” she asked, adding the last part quickly.

The Nameless One was silent for a long moment before, finally, shaking their head. “I cannot. It would take all of your chosen to break something like that, if it could even be done.”

“Why?” Joan asked.

“Is that your boon?” the Nameless One asked.

Joan slowly nodded. “Yes. I want to know what it is.”

“Very well, hero. I cannot fix it as you, child, are insignificant. Its power isn’t over you, it is over your world.”

Her mouth fell open and she stared at the fae, now certain they had to be lying. “That’s impossible.”

“As I said. You are a loophole. You shouldn’t exist, yet you do,” the Nameless One said, their lip curling in disgust. “To imagine they would destroy one of their most radiant pieces in order to create something so simple and mundane.”

Joan shook her head. “Our world would burn otherwise.”

“Perfection often requires sacrifice. If the Inferno God had to burn away one small world so that the ten brilliant pieces could be reused elsewhere, a small price to pay,” the Nameless One said.

“Our world is not small, nor will it burn away! It--” Joan froze in midsentence. She stared at him for a long moment before cocking her head to the side. “Wait, did you say ten?”

“You have one more boon remaining, hero,” the Nameless One said.

Joan sighed and let out a frustrated growl. Why was it everywhere she went she felt like she had more questions thrown in her face? Seven Chosen, one Hero, one Demon Lord. Was there another out there, then? Something she hadn’t run into? Or had she run into it and not noticed? Or was it something else entirely, something she missed? Was it the Inferno God himself?

She closed her eyes and thought long and hard on what she could do. There had to be something, anything, that she could do to fix at least a part of what she had messed up. She glanced towards the portal once more. “One final boon, correct?”

“Indeed, hero,” the Nameless One said. “Your last boon.”

“If I fail, once the key is used, I want you to take as many people from my world as you can to, well, somewhere safe. Another world, like you offered me.”

The Nameless One stared at her for a long moment before, very softly, they began to laugh.

“What? What’s so funny?” Joan asked.

“Very well, Hero,” the Nameless One said. “Your boon shall be granted again. Congratulations, child. You finally have managed to make yourself, somewhat, interesting. I will look forward to your inevitable failure. Who knows? Perhaps you will even manage to rise to radiance once again.” They then held out their right hand and snapped their fingers. “A small warning, however. They key was never meant for mundane hands like yours. There may be some discomfort when it bonds.”

“Wait, what do you mean disco--” Joan never got the chance to finish that sentence before it felt as if her body was being split in two. She barely had time to scream before, mercifully, the world faded away to darkness.

------

Joan’s eyes slowly opened. To her surprise, she felt pretty great. Her head didn’t hurt at all, which was a mercy in and of itself. Her body ached, but nowhere near as bad as it had the last few days.

Of course, as she was grudgingly beginning to accept, good things didn’t just happen. There seemed to always be a negative to go with the positive. The negative, in this case, was that she appeared to be tied up. Her left hand was numb. She couldn’t feel the familiar weight of her equipment at all, so she had to assume she was unarmed. As dark as it was, she couldn’t make out anything in the darkness. But she was alive, so that was a start.

She started to sit up, but before she could a voice called out from the darkness. “Don’t move, kid.”

Joan went entirely still. It couldn’t be. There was no possible way. She both wanted to punch that stupid fae in the jaw and kiss them at the same time. “Who’s there?” she asked, her heart pounding so hard she was certain the figure could hear it.

“Doesn’t matter, I--”

“Andreas?” Joan asked.

She received nothing but silence for a few moments before a lantern lit up, illuminating the area.

Sure enough, Andreas was standing by the entrance of what appeared to be a large tent, a lantern held in his hands. “Do I know you?” he asked.

Joan couldn’t help it, she started to laugh helplessly.

“You know, most people in your situation wouldn’t be laughing, kid,” Andreas said, staring down at her with a confused look on his face. On his big, wonderful face that she wanted to hug so tight.

“I can’t help it! It’s you! It’s actually you! Oh by the gods, Andreas. I have sooooo much to tell you. I can’t believe they actually did it. I’m really here,” Joan said, unable to stop the giddyness bubbling inside of her. “I thought it would be ages before I did.”

Another chosen found. She didn’t care what that fae thought, she could do this. She WOULD do this.

MelodyAvant

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